Tuesday, 29 October 2013

The story of Marathalli

Marathalli or Marathahalli is
one of the many localities in Bangalore.
A majority of the people and even residents of Marathalli say the name of their
locality is from Maruti or Hanuman.

They say that there was a temple of Maruti in the locality and, hence, the
name. Marathahalli is derived from the Sanskrit word “Maruti” meaning Lord
Hanuman and Halli meaning village in
Kannada. Other people believe that a fighter aircraft called “Marut” crash landed
at the place. Therefore, the area came to be called Marathalli.

Very few people know that
Marathalli is one of the handful of places in and around the City that predate Bangalore or Bendakalooru.
There is no doubt that several centuries ago, this was a small village and the residents depended
on forestry, agriculture and they also reared cattle and were into poultry
farming.

However, agriculture was thee
main source of profession of the residents of Marathalli.

Another legend about this
place is that it was here that the Marathas settled down and this was during
the reign of Tipu Sultan, the ruler of Mysore.
With scores of Maratha families living here, it came to be called Maratha Halli
which later came to be known as Marathalli.

A few other residents say
Marathalli is named after St. Martha’s Hospital.

Whatever its origin, we now
know that Marathalli is one of the oldest places in and around Bangalore. Historians and
archaeologists say that the first mention of Marathalli as a settlement is in a
written record belonging to the Vijayanagar Dynasty in 1508. However, there is
proof to say that this locality existed even in the middle ages.

The Someshwara Temple of
Marathalli and an inscription on an Ashwatha Katte date the inhabitation of
Marathalli to the eleventh century. This makes Marathalli much older than Bangalore or other towns
in and around the Garden City.

A few decades ago, the
Someshwara temple was the centre of the Marathalli village. But today, it
stands away from the centre point of the locality. Historians date the SomeshwaraTemple to the Cholas and this was built
sometime during the eleventh century.

The temple of Someshwara
is a typical Chola structure. It is really interesting to note that it was from
the time of the Cholas that the penchant for constructing Someshwara temples
began and almost all such temples are in and around Bangalore.

(Another SomeshwaraTemple
of the Cholas is in Ulsoor or Halasuru but this was substantially repaired and
renovated by Kempe Gowda).

The SomeshwaraTemple at Marathalli is as old as the SomeshwaraTemple at Agara in Sarjapur. Thus, we
find many Someshwara Temples of the Chola era in Bangalore.

Coming back to Marathalli, historians
discovered an old inscription on the Aswathakatte or platform of a banyan tree.

The inscription belonged to
the Vijayanagara kingdom and it is dated 1508. It mentions the reign of Viranarasimha
Raya or Viranarasimha the third of Vijayanagara kingdom in 1508.

The inscription also mentions
that Brahma, Saptarishis, Harihara and the god of Varanasi were among the witnesses of
Viranarasimha's rule in the Vijayanagara kingdom.

Historians have mot been able
to assign a reason for the inscription. The inscription only records the reign
of a Tuluva King of Vijayanagar.

Viranarasimha was the brother
of Krishnadeva Raya (1509-1529) and he followed the Vijayanagar Emperor, Narasa
Nayaka, to the throne. Viranarasimha reigned for four years, between 1505 and
1509. Soon after he ascended the throne, he faced rebellion from several
quarters, including the Ummattur chiefs.

According to folklore, Viranarasimha
wanted his minister, Saluva Thimmarasu, to pluck the eyes of Krishna Deva Raya
so that his con could ascend the Vijayanagar throne.

We may surmise that
Viranarasimha had the inscription put up as he wanted to exert his authority. Whatever
the reason, we now know that Marathalli was part of the Vijayanagar kingdom.

The Vijayanagar inscription
is in Telugu and this shows us that Kannada perhaps was not the mother tongue
or language here, at least till six centuries ago.

The inscription testifies to
the fact that Telugu was the language of the Vijayanagar court along with
Kannada.

Today, the SomeshwaraTemple
and the Telugu inscription are the only relics of yore. Today, the temple has
been renovated and it bears little resemblance t the ancient structure that it
was. As far as Marathalli goes, it is an important locality of Bangalore and even its residents
have forgotten the local history of the area, caught up as they are in the
throes of modernization and the real estate
boom.

Marathalli is home to several
IT and BT companies and it is also the place where several companies known for branded
apparels and furniture shops have their establishments.